Defiers of Fate Herself
by ZodiarkSavior
Summary: Unexpectedly, Lightning is thrust into a world not her own. Some part of herself agreed with Sazh because Lady Bad Luck had just pulled a royal flush from her gilded sleeves.
1. Introduction

**First time writing a crossover so do not be surprised if people are horrendously out of character.**

**You've been warned.**

**Another thing, this story WILL be different from most generic crossovers. One of which I will say is that Lightning will not immediately draft herself into the ranks of the main characters.**

* * *

The airship quaked as it sped through the acclaimed 'gate' to Gran Pulse. A variety of colors could be seen blurring past in a spectacular array outside of the cockpit as everyone clutched onto the straphangers dangling from the ceiling.

Across from Lightning, Snow stood with the goofiest grin as he watched Hope try to keep his own balance in a less-than-graceful manner. Apparently noticing Lightning's glance, Snow smiled and gave her a heroic thumbs-up.

Lightning rolled her eyes with hidden amusement, the next series of jolts nothing to her thanks to simulations regarding flight turbulence administered within the Guardian Corps. Although real-time situations that actually required the use of an airship were exceedingly rare in the Guardian Corps., she was thankful in knowing that both her and Snow were the only ones _not_ struggling to stand upwards, but she chalked that up due to him being an absolute behemoth of a man.

As a rather violent quake of the airship caused even Lightning's stand to stutter, she reached out and pulled Hope back upwards by his scarf, resting a hand reassuringly on his shoulder while the teenager rubbed his head sheepishly with a free hand.

Snow didn't lose the grin as he called towards the pilot, "Hey, I thought you knew how to drive an airship?!"

"A Gran Pulse ship," Fang quickly added with a quirked eyebrow.

Sazh's let out a series of grunts, eyes never leaving the front as he fought against the rough jerks of the wheel, "Hey, hey, I'm trying, sheesh!" he said, half-joking, half-irritated. After that, his focus promptly returned to keeping the airship stable.

Lightning still had her free hand firmly planted on Hope's shoulder. It may have seemed to have been acted out of reassurance, but it was mostly so the boy didn't trip over himself again. As Snow, Vanille and Fang engaged in playful banter, Lightning opted to remain silent and observe.

It was obvious Snow was determined to make this through to the end and that both Vanille and Fang were excited to see their home once again. Hope was visibly anxious to see what Gran Pulse, 'Hell below', actually looked like.

Truthfully, Lightning was also. To anyone else, the small curve of her lips was of amusement but inside, as much as she hated to admit it, her heart fluttered and beat rapidly. Something caused her mind to pump adrenaline through her at the prospect of going to infamous place of the accursed _'Hell on Earth, Pulse'_ or as Fang told them all with pride, Gran Pulse.

'_Call it the rebellious tendencies that I didn't have when I was a teenager,'_ Lightning thought lightheartedly.

With a blinding flash of light, the turbulence halted to a smooth and everyone was in awe at what was on the opposite side of the cockpit's safety-glass windows after their eyes adjusted.

Letting go of the straphanger, Lightning took a few steps forward.

Lo and behold, below them, an absolutely colossal expanse of greenery highlighted by reddened sunset expanded as far as the eye could see. Foreign, beautiful trees dappled the landscape along with glorious waterfalls and colorful canyons that were shaded in random places depending on whatever angles they faced.

At such a high altitude, it all seemed incredibly small as the airship glided through the sea of clouds without a single trouble, each fluff of white passed through leaving dewdrops and moisture on the outside surface of the cockpit.

Vanille ran up to Sazh with a smile, "You did it!"

The pilot gave her a thumbs-up, "Yeah! Told you, didn't I?" as both he and Vanille chuckled playfully, looking back at the scenery.

A few moments passed of marveling before a shroud of column of dark blotted out the cockpit window that caused everyone to raise a protective arm over their arms instinctively. When the sun finally returned after a few seconds, everyone looked up to see their first Gran Pulse monster: A gigantic, flying worm far off in the distance.

"Playful little critter, isn't he?" Fang said with complete nonchalance, a hand on her hip.

"Yeah, well play with someone else."

Vanille smiled nostalgically, giggling at Lightning's serious comment, "Happens all the time."

Everyone had their eyes trained as the bi-headed, horned worm soon detoured, its ferocious mouth snapping open and close.

"He thinks we're lunch," Fang input casually.

"Yeah, like a l'Cie-food buffet," Sazh added with some worry as the worm flew even closer.

Lightning reached out to grab her gunblade when the monster directed itself straight towards them, "'Cie-Food'. Cute."

"Guys here it comes!" The moment of Hope's desperate exclamation, the monster collided headfirst with

the cockpit window, the glass shattering easily along with the removal of the front half of the ship.

As the airship began to fly towards the earth, both Hope and Vanille screamed when they went tumbling together out into the sky in a vacuum but managed to latch onto a fractured piece of metal still connected to the ship. Too busy trying to grasp towards their own closest objects, Lightning, Fang nor Snow could help them when Vanille's grip slipped, both she and Hope falling towards the ground.

Snow gripped tightly onto an iron bar as he yelled, "Fang, get 'em!"

Nodding, "I'm on it!" Fang expertly dived towards them with Lightning following. As they skydived, Lightning's gunblade shifted to rifle with the click of a mechanism upon spotting the familiar, dark glow from the Pulsian woman's shoulder.

Looking back expectedly, Fang turned around midair and tossed the Eidolon Stone towards Lightning. Knowingly, Lightning's eyes didn't leave the small glint that was the Eidolon Stone when it brushed past her. Aiming carefully, she discharged a shot.

A split second later a shatter could be heard and the clouds above swirled into an ominous black along with a series of layered, violet sigils expanding overhead quickly there were broken when Bahamut collided through with a mighty roar, diving towards them.

"Here!" Fang opened her arms and legs and caught the draft, grabbing Lightning's extended arm as they landed safely on Bahamut's arched spine. With a calculating look, Fang patted her Eidolon twice, causing it to fly fast towards the descending ship containing Sazh and Snow who soon jumped onto Bahamut without hesitation.

Hope and Vanille flailed midair as they held each other's hands tightly. The petite girl glanced towards the teenager, "You okay?"

Hope seemed to have been aggravated by that casual question, "Oh yeah, I'm great!"

"Grab on!" And before they knew it, they were clutching Bahamut's spine after Fang roughly pulled them on. With another pat, the Eidolon steered away from the dangerous falling airship as it began to crash into a nearby forest.

With everyone's hearts still pumping with adrenaline, they began to recollect themselves while observing the scene directly below, watching migrations of the beasts of Gran Pulse.

When calm descended over them after a few moments, Fang announced, "Home sweet home. Welcome to Gran Pulse."

Nothing significant happened after that, instead everyone favored small chatter as they savored the magnificence of Gran Pulse. Everyone's eyes darted around its vast landscape like a child at a candy shop while Vanille and Fang huddled close together like sisters silently reminiscing over the days of yore, contently smiling with scattered thoughts.

It took a few hours before Fang finally descended to the ground and dismissed Bahamut. The sun had long since set, the air cool and damp in the valley overseeing a ravine that they decided to camp in.

Though they were rather deep within the valley, Vallis Media, but Cocoon's beautiful bounty could be seen over the horizon, its shell shining like a pearl basking under the moonlight as the crack in its hull pulsed softly with an ephemeral green under the veil of night.

'_It looks nice,'_ Lightning noted. It was midnight, her shift almost over but nevertheless she was remained alert at every bush rustle or sway of grass. Often it was a rabbit or something of the innocent sort - which equaled a free meal.

It was a good thing the gunshot from a gunblade was not nearly as loud as the standardized gun. As of now, she had collected two rabbits and one those overgrown slugs with flowers on their backs.

All three of which were stacked in a pile right next to Lightning who sat on a rock as she sat, legs crossed, gunblade laying on her lap with a finger resting on the trigger.

After hearing another noise, the gunblade whipped right towards the source but then lowered once Lightning realized it was just a weary Snow. The behemoth of a man yawned loudly before speaking with a drowse, "Hello to you too, Light."

Lightning scoffed at the nickname, but hopped off the rock anyways after sheathing her weapon and making way back towards their small camp.

Just before Lightning was completely from earshot, she smirked triumphantly upon hearing Snow complain rather loudly in the distance, "Aww, come on, Light!" the drowse was completely gone.

He had most likely just sat on top of the three critters that had been pooling blood underneath them for quite some time.

"Oaf," still holding to her victorious smirk, Lightning entered the camp and unbuckled her sheath, laying it down with the Blazefire Saber still tucked inside to be used as a pillow.

It was better than nothing, after all. Not to mention how much more tactical it was, considering she could be awake and ready should any trouble arise.

Besides, trying to sleep comfortably with the sheath strapped on was impossible when it constantly jutted her sides.

Before Lightning could finally rest her head, a familiar accented woman interrupted her, "What are you so giddy about?"

It was Fang, who apparently was still awake. Lightning immediately wiped the smirk away, "Nothing."

There was a brief silence before Snow's defeated groaning could be heard in the distance, barely perceptible. Fang exhaled a small, silent laugh but didn't bother anymore when Lightning lied down.

The moment her head hit the 'pillow', she was asleep.

* * *

The moment her eyes shot awake, Lightning bolted right up and reached for the Blazefire Saber, drawing it from its sheath in a smooth motion, aiming its barrel directly at the floating, spherical beasts that surrounded her.

A quick glance told her this was a lush, dense forest freshened by a thick mist that left drops of moisture to tickle her ears and chin as they trickled to the ground. With a jerk her body, Lightning couldn't spot Hope nor Snow nor anyone for that matter.

She was snapped out of her analysis when the spherical, foreign beasts with agonized, black-painted faces turned, the cannons protruding from their bodies clicking loudly into place when they fixated on her.

It wasn't long before they discharged the first volley.


	2. Misdirection

Bursting into an athletic sprint, Lightning somersaulted to avoid a violet colored barrage of booming cannon fire and fired her shots. This proved to be ineffective as the bullets from the gunblade simply ricocheted off their spherical bodies, not even denting them.

Cursing inwardly, Lightning continued to sprint, darting in and out between a thick weave of thin trees. It was no use attempting to use them as cover since the trees were tall but not wide enough to provide safe cover. However, the fog obscured Lightning's form and made it difficult for the beasts to track her.

When Lightning swiftly slid into a nearby pit, she could feel the force emanating from the purple cannon fire that missed her by a hair as it slid across her jaw.

Taking a deep breath, her hand pulsated with energy as she tapped the center of her gunblade and bounded upwards, pulling her finger to unleash another series of shots. The moment the bullets collided with the hulls of the spherical creatures, arcs of electricity assaulted them and forced their bodies to dip mid-levitation, rendering them completely defenseless as they attempted to recover.

Not one to lose an opening, Lightning ravaged the small group further with a gesture of the hand that rained thick streams of thunder upon them, the drumming of each bolt only background noise when she consecutively made a mad dash towards them before leaping high and penetrating one of their agonized faces.

While driving the point of the gunblade further into its expressing maw, she glanced behind her and spotted the others audibly fixating unto her with their cannons.

'_Great, one down, three to go,'_ Lightning thought.

When the spherical cannon-creature went into a seizure and slowly descended, the gunblade screeched as Lightning easily pried it out of its body and prepared to hop onto the ground, the muscles in her legs tensing in preparation.

Before she could do so, a sudden explosion blinded her and pain bloomed all across her body as she was then sent flying midair for a moment.

Roughly colliding to the ground, with the Blazefire Saber still clutched in her hand, Lightning quickly hoisted herself up, ignoring the throbbing from whatever scraps, bumps, bruises or burns decorated her from the impact.

Catching the beasts advancing in the corner of her eyes, Lightning sprinted once more at a noticeably slower pace but just enough for her to again narrowly avoid the enemies' next volley of cannon fire as she hid behind a large rock.

Concentrating, her hand radiated a mint aura as Lightning glided over the wounds. Watching them disappear before her eyes, the dull pain was rendered immediately no longer.

Exhaling a breath of relief, Lightning peeked over the corner of large, cold cover to survey what was held in store; the enemy seemed to have been confused, wandering aimlessly within the mist and discharging their cannons recklessly at each rustle of a bush nearby themselves.

For some reason, their agonized faces reminded Lightning of the gaping expression that bordered the sides of the fal'Cie, Barthandelus.

When one of the spheres threatened to turn and look in her direction, Lightning pulled back and kneeled, resuming nursing the minor side of her injuries.

Her hand froze midair when an insignificant spot of blood suddenly turned into a black pentacle. Before she could react, another pentacle appeared beside it and another, before spreading like a plague up her arm.

And then, an overwhelming sensation of absolute dread, pain, sorrow and sickness bloomed within her stomach.

Unwillingly allowing Blazefire to slip from a violently trembling arm, Lightning gripped the sides of her waist and arched over, mouth gaping open and closed as the world around contorted its picture.

Something painful corked her insides. It felt like a force was splintering her bones and freezing her blood cold as it rushed inside Lightning's ears as her head bobbing from side to side without a single sense of laterality.

Lightheaded and unthinking, Lightning was powerless against whatever this was, grinding her teeth but making naught a sound as this _indescribable_ pain consumed her. Whatever it was, it was worse than death.

She wanted to scream, she wanted to scream, she wanted to _scream, scream _this pain away but she couldn't, no matter how hard Lightning tried. Her brain just wouldn't give her the mercy to do so.

When it felt like something was driven through her heart, the trembling stopped as she violently jerked once more to a complete still.

With extreme reluctance, Lightning opened her eyes and saw a faint glow peaking beneath the fibers of her outfit.

It was the l'Cie Brand. A horrifying thought crossed her mind, '_Am I turning into a Cie'th…?'_

With a spontaneous flash of white, Lightning's blackened skin turned back to peach and she completely lurched over, resting the tip of her forehead on the hard ground. Each rise of her shoulders accented how deep and desperate each following breath was as Lightning contemplated what just happened.

Deciding against it after a few moments, Lightning's fingers sprawled against the forest floor for the Blazefire Saber, feeling around the wet leaves before tightly gripping the hilt of the blade, savoring the tight leather squeaking against the tips of each digit.

With an unknown twisting motion and curl of her fingers, the blade retracted once more into a rifle and Lightning cautiously picked it up with newfound energy. Peeking out of cover of the giant rock once more, her eyes couldn't pick up on the movements of the beasts anymore.

They were gone.

With trained steps, Lightning's combat boots sounded quitely as they squashed the wetness of the forest floor. The fog has seemingly thinned; her sight could pick up shapes a few more yards away than it used to. From side to side there was nothing but thin, elongated trees. Completely rotating showed nothing within her vicinity.

They truly were gone. Or so it seemed. Succumbing to the nagging thought that told her to look up; Lightning did so with a grim expression.

Above her were the spherical creatures that hung in their eerie loom.

Too late to avoid the stream of violet heading her way, Lightning extended the gunblade and raised her swordarm in vain defense.

Lightning's expectancy of direct damage didn't go as expected when a rounded, hexagonal-divided, transparent shield of purple easily deflected the attack.

Lightning recognized that magic, "Hope? !" she called out. Squinting, she could make out the teenager throwing his boomerang and peppering the creatures with magic. Although it wasn't very effective, he successfully managed to divert their attention from Lightning.

'_Idiot,' _although as much as some part of her mind praised him for doing so, it was still a foolish thing to do, all things considering. Not to mention Hope wasn't quick on his toes, which for this fight, he needed to be.

"Take cover!" Lightning called out and the teenager immediately did so - or tried to, as there was not a single thing to take cover behind or under around them.

Dashing towards his frame, Lightning unleashed another series of electric-ridden shots at the monsters from her gunblade. With neither the spheres nor her stopping, Lightning continued to ravage them at a distance.

With the combined efforts of both herself and Hope, another enemy soon exploded and Lightning managed to regroup to his side, "Come on!" grabbing his arm, they began to run deeper into the forest but no matter how fast she tried, Lightning couldn't manage to shake them off.

And then they were met with a dead end, a high-rising cliff.

Turning around, muscles tenses, Lightning was once again met with nothing.

"Where are…-,"before Hope could finish the question, Lightning shushed him. A quick horizontal scan revealed showed nothing dangerous. Directly above, however, the enemy thought they could achieve another preemptive strike.

Mustering all her power, Lightning's wrist glowed faintly as she flicked upwards, the motion soon followed by a deafeningly loud crash of thunder accompanied by the explosion of the remaining spheres above.

Sighing a breath of relief, Lightning smoothly folded Blazefire in a single motion and stored in it in its sheath, "Thanks."

"Where are we?" Hope repeated, genuinely confused.

"I have no idea," Lightning remarked with slight disdain. "But I plan on finding out."

"Think its Pulse?"

"Maybe," A thought crossed Lightning's mind after, "Have you seen Snow?"

Although the notion was foolish, Lightning didn't put it past her for him to do this to her after accidentally causing the man to bloody himself. But why drag Hope into this?

"No," it was brutal honesty. Hope then rubbed his forehead in thought, "I kind woke up in the middle of this place; this forest. I've never seen anything like it, not even in the books in school."

Neither had she. From what Lightning had remembered, nearly every single forested area inside Cocoon possessed some abstract trait that differentiated them from the rest.

For example, the Gapra Whitewood had trees that were an amalgamation of machinery, crystal and plant, among other things. Like small, mindless, fal'Cie.

The possibility of those creatures being fal'Cie was immediately dismissed, considering that all Cocoon fal'Cie weren't openly hostile. If that were true, the fal'Cie Carbuncle would have attacked them while they were making their way through the tunnels under Palumpolum.

Then again, they all _were _Pulse l'Cie.

Was this Pulse? Lightning didn't know. She hadn't explored enough to know. The greenery was incredibly…Foreign. Ordinary, more like it.

The images of those sphere-shaped fiends with cannons protruding from their bodies along with humans faces of agony popped into her mind. Who did they belong to?

The Guardian Corps.? Definitely not, considering that their primary focus concerned the stability of civilians and towns.

PSICOM? Maybe, but those creatures were definitely _not_ PSICOM. If they were, PSICOM shock troopers would be at their location already. Not to mention there wasn't a single scrap of AMP Technology lying around.

The Cavalry? They used to patrol the skies but right now were too busy dealing with the Sanctum and probably running in circles because of Cid Raines' death.

Lightning pinched the bridge of her nose before wiping away a few tickling beads of moisture with the same hand.

This place definitely wasn't Cocoon. It was most likely Pulse, but what would have dragged them here? "I have no idea," Lightning voiced, "Our only chance for information is to search for it."

This, of course, meant that they would aimlessly wander the place for a person/remarkable landmark.

"Should we go look for the others?" Hope asked.

"Chances are, we'll find one of them," was all her short reply before venturing forward.

As the hours ticked away, so did the rolling of the fog. The morning sun shined above them, creeping elegantly through the peeks of the tall trees. Hope knew not to complain or trip over roots protruding from the ground and they were quite used to walking large distances before rest.

The creatures in this forest were different also. They were…Completely docile. A herd of brown, four legged beasts with twisted horns were easily startled away when Lightning tried to sneak past them, something she had not expected.

Though Lightning couldn't speak for Pulse, Chocobos frequented every habitat of Cocoon even though most were domesticated. She could speak for that by experience. Quite a few of the tasks assigned while in the Guardian Corps concerned rampant pets and loose Chocobos.

It was another hour before they emerged from the undergrowth, faced directly with a dirt road. Not a dirt path that was trampled into existence from use as a shortcut; a wide, dirt road that had even more forest on other side.

Lightning couldn't even remember the last time Cocoon utilized dirt roads and from the snippets Vanille had told them, the civilizations of Pulse were like Cocoon in their methods of transportation, favoring cement roads to support vehicles.

Without another thought, Lightning began to walk straight in one direction with Hope silently trailing behind, each step from the two combined coughing a small cloud of dust in their wake.

Their steps did, at least until the sudden emergence of a storm appeared hours later that turned that dirt to mud. Thankfully, a beautiful boon of being l'Cie was that you would never catch a cold or anything of the sort.

It wouldn't do for servants of the fal'Cie to be felled by something ridiculous like a cold now, would it?

Continuing their trek, it wasn't until dusk that they spotted something else. By carriage, strange, four-legged beasts with hooves trampled their way towards Lightning and Hope. She could make out someone atop of the carriage, guiding the reins of the beasts.

"Maybe we could ask them?"

Agreeing with Hope, Lightning moved off to the side of the road so she wouldn't be trampled and held her thumb high with some impatience.

She never had to resort to hitchhiking before so she didn't exactly know if this gesture was exactly correct or not. It seemed to have worked, however, as the carriage pulled to a steady stop right next them.

Lightning eyes the beast heading the carriage and the carriage itself suspiciously. Hope did also, but with more marvel than she.

Noticing this, the man piloting the ancient-carriage began to speak quickly in a bunch of gibberish. This immediately caught Hope's attention, "What's he saying?"

Before Lightning could even conceptualize an appropriate answer, the man speaking gibberish looked at them strangely before saying, "Ah. You speak English. My mistake," with amusement, he looked between both a uncomfortably soaked Lightning and Hope, "Terrible time to stroll along a Veluwe forest, eh?"

Lightning eyed the man curiously. Like Snow, he wore a hooded leather trench coat and had an extremely large backpack.

The door to the carriage opened, revealing an elderly man in robes that spoke in the gibberish the coated man was speaking before.

"They speak English, General," the coated man seemed to have answered the elderly man's question.

The elderly man turned appraisingly towards them with a kind smile of misunderstanding, "Ah. Forgive me; most residing in the Netherlands tend to speak Dutch or German."

The Netherlands…?

"Your outfit is indeed strange but it matters not what one wears," he continued, "Please, come in before you catch a cold in this absolutely _dreadful rain_," The elderly man then offered helpinghand to Lightning.

Glancing to make sure Hope was still there, Lightning accepted the invitation, ignoring his extended arm as she and the teenager climbed into the carriage.

What Lightning saw was most surprising. At the left-side of the carriage there was a cooking stove with a few cabinets beneath and above. On the other side, was a flawless, finished and polished wooden table bordered by two large plush, leather seats. In a corner, there were some pillows on top of neatly folded blankets.

Living in a carriage – that was like living in your car but Lightning didn't voice her judgment, although she did admit it that the atmosphere inside here was rather cozy.

"It is most rude to decline an offering, miss," the elderly man said sternly.

"Sorry," Lightning said casually with slight disrespect. As if she needed to be pitied.

The old man frowned and furrowed his eyebrows and looked her directly in the eyes. Lightning didn't step down but also took the time to observe the man before her.

He was old, that much was obvious but held a straighter posture than most adults she had seen in Bodhum. The elderly man's robes were black and gilded gold, the large collar of the poncho he wore sporting the most of the golden trim as it was buckled closed with a few buttons and a few simple lines of pattern. His white hair was neat, nearly perfect as it tumbled down, parted away from his eyes with the aid of a black circlet. Above his lip rested a thick, grey mustache.

Deciding to snap the elderly man away from his judgmental stare, Lightning proceeded to walk towards the plush leather seat that housed another coated man.

Ignoring the coated man's curious stare, Lightning unbuckled the holder for her saber and placed it onto the table before saying, "Nice place."

It really was, but to others the nearly emotionless tone could have indicated sarcasm.

And some people take offense to sarcasm, "It is most rude to insult a man's abode," the old man noted, somewhat offended, "Especially should he be one whom kindly harbors the unfortunate."

Realizing what she said, Lightning straightened herself seriously, "Sorry, sir."

The man's eyes softened, "Apology accepted," as he began rummaging through the iron cupboards aside the stove.

Resting an aching back against the leather seats, Lightning switched her gaze towards Hope who was inspecting the entire place…. Only to be interrupted by the elderly man once again, "Would you please dry yourself off with this, miss?"

And then Lightning realized she had completely soaked the nice leather seats, '_Smooth.'_

As she got up to take her shoes off and carefully dry off the soaked seeks with the towel the elderly man had provided, Hope decided to input into the conversation, "You live here, mister…?"

"My name is Kevin Yeegar and you could say I'm a traveler of sorts," he happily replied with a twinkle in his eye.


	3. Stumbling Block

**I would like to note that the locations and relative distances stated are most likely inaccurate. I am ignorant. Also please review, I want to know if I'm doing something wrong.**

* * *

"Lightning."

"Hope Estheim."

Kevin Yeegar nodded at each thoughtfully, "Beautiful names," While Lightning began to unclip the wet red cape from her back the old man extended his hand, palm upwards,"Your jacket…?"

Lightning obliged without batting an eye, "Thank you."

"You're quite welcome," was the cheery reply. Then he gestured towards the man beside her, "Ah, apologies, I forgot to introduce whom was beside you."

Not that Lightning particularly cared; her eye flickered towards the trench coat beside her.

The man had cropped black hair along with thick side burns that streaked down into stubble on the chin was quick to introduce himself, "My name is Thierry, a pleasure to meet you," He offered then offered a hand which Lightning shook.

"Perhaps I can ask a question of you, Miss Lightning?"

"Shoot."

Yeegar looked curiously between Hope and her for a moment, "…For what purpose were you and a child doing in wandering that road?"

The moment Hope opened his mouth, Lightning was already ahead of him, "We got lost," she stated simply.

"Unfortunate."

"Yup."

"May I ask where you hail from or what is your destination? The road we are traversing is incredibly perilous."

It really did feel great to not be treated like an outcast – a freak. A very nice change of pace but other thoughts was on Lightning's mind at the moment, "Where I'm from…?" she rolled the jeweled lightning bolt pendant between her fingers slowly, "Bodhum. Hope's from Palumpolum."

"I've never heard of such places."

That grabbed Lightning's attention, causing her to let the dangling pendant fall limp. Who had never heard of Bodhum or Palumpolum…?

"Cocoon..." the simplifying word spoken sounded almost like a question. Yeegar nodded in understanding but Lightning could see uncertainty lingering in his fogged, appraising gaze.

"I see," the old man took off his coat before standing, "Take a seat, Hope. Would any of you like a meal?"

"Yes, please!" Hope eagerly answered. Yeegar smiled.

"Very well, then. Please sit down and make yourselves at home," he said while pulling something out from under the cabinets. As he did so, Lightning could have sworn she spotted the glint of chains tucked inside the shadows of the man's sleeves but shrugged it off as imagination.

"It has been a long time the last I was in the presence of company," Yeegar continued, slapping a hunk of raw, bloody meat into the iron skillet.

It seemed like forever since the last time she had sat down at a table and eaten dinner, so this brought about a lot of memories - along with crashing wave of guilt.

Tuning out the old man's small talk, Lightning began to think. Her priorities were on Serah, but how could Lightning find Serah if she didn't know where her sister was or how to even do it? Wasn't that the reason they went to Pulse, to find a way to stop the fal'Cie, Barthandelus in order to rescue everyone…? To defy their Focus.

She was confused, she felt useless and _hopeless._ The moment the word crossed her, Lightning snapped out of it. Fighting without hope was no way to live. Metaphorically speaking, of course, but Lightning didn't know what would have happened if Hope wasn't here, considering the boy had most likely saved her life from those spherical creatures.

Though the teenager had his social quirks, he was a breath of fresh air and lightened her mood. The same couldn't be said for him, however. And at the moment he looked terribly stricken by remorse.

It didn't take long for Lightning to puzzle together that the smell of cooking was reminding him of his mom, Nora, who was also dead.

"Hey," Lightning tapped on his knuckles, "Don't lose hope, Hope."

In response, Hope tried to pull off one of Vanille's horribly happy smiles but failed miserably. Lightning rose an eyebrow, "That was ridiculous," she deadpanned.

Hope chuckled a bit sadly, "Sorry, Light."

"You're not alone," she patted again reassuringly. That seemed to brighten him up, considerably but not by much.

"That's an interesting tattoo."

Hope scrambled to roll up his leather glove to hide his brand, earning a chuckle from the trench coat next to her, "Aren't you a bit young for something like that?"

"Ah….Oh…," To others, Hope's stutter and chocobo-in-the-headlights look would have been interpreted as embarrassment but Lightning knew it was because it was the Pulse l'Cie brand but this man – _Thierry_, Lightning reminded herself - thought it was a _tattoo_?

l'Cie tattoos of any kind were illegal on Cocoon, to the extent where the law regarding them stated that officials who discovered l'Cie tattoos on any person were subject to their obligation of interrogating and incarcerating said individual due immediately.

Cocoon l'Cie were remarkable heroes and their crystals were set on display in Nautilus and Eden.  
Pulse l'Cie were classified as terrorists whose bodies were more or less staked and put on display like war trophies.

That was absolute basic history and knowledge of Cocoon that had been drilled into the people's heads when in school.

The possibility of this place being Cocoon went flying out of the carriage's red-curtained, tinted windows and somewhere deep in Lightning's mind brewed a humorous thought that told her she wasn't on Pulse either but that was dismissed.

"Why would someone defile their body at such a young age…" Yeegar mused disapprovingly, glancing backwards as he cooked.

"I didn't choose to get it," Hope grumbled with slight annoyance.

"Someone forced it unto you?"

Queue the flipping of meat, the noise of sizzling now making Lightning notice the gorgeous scent of food wafting around, "You could say that," she remarked. Technically, it was true.

Thierry tilted his head slightly in analysis, "Could I see it?" Out of the corner of her eyes, Lightning could spot Yeegar's sideways, objecting glance towards the inquirer, "Please?" he added, seemingly getting the message.

"Uh…"

"Go ahead."

"Sure," Hope pulled the skin of the glove away from the brand, flinching inwardly in fear of rejection.

But instead of rejection, the man gave an honest compliment, "It's really interesting," but Hope's eyes widened in shock as he inspected the brand on his hand.

"Lightning, my brand..." Raising an eyebrow, Lightning trailed down and adopted the same expression. Instead of black arrows with an eerily opening red eye, the curse mark was stark white; almost crystalline.

'_Just like Fang's,'_ Lightning remembered. A l'Cie with a white brand was free from a Focus, to do as they pleased but still at the benefit of their powers. They didn't have to worry about becoming a Cie'th either, since their brands were, for lack of a better term, 'frozen'.

"Is yours like that too, Light?"

"I can't check it now."

"You have one too, miss?" Trench Coat asked. Hope flushed somewhat, having already known where her brand was.

Not to mention Lightning's answer was extremely blunt, "On my chest."

The look on the man's face was hilarious, "Ah…"

"It is a sin to defile one's self in such a manner, Lightning," Yeegar scolded seriously, setting a few baskets of salad unto the table followed by small plates of faced with meat, "And yours is identical to hers, you say?"

To some, this situation would have been highly amusing. Trench Coat was trying to decide between a chuckle of pity or perverse understanding. Lightning rolled her eyes under Yeegar's expecting gaze, already knowing what they were thinking.

When she or the blushing Hope didn't answer, he continued, "Yet you claim that the markings were because of circumstance?"

Lightning sighed heavily with impatience at the ludicrous assumed insinuation, "Look, it's...-"

Yeegar raised a hand to interrupt before speaking, "My apologies. I did not mean to offend you; it is not my place to ask now, is it?" He said sincerely. With the same hand, he gestured towards the food laid in front of them, "Please, it is rude for a cook to deny guests food."

Well, that saved her a potential embarrassing explanation. The situation had merely postponed the inevitable, however, but Lightning or Hope didn't say anything as they focused on their meal.

The moment she popped a piece of meat into her mouth, she brightened with surprise and suppressed the urge to groan. It was, simply put, _absolutely delicious._ Not as good as Serah's cooking, but it came damn close.

It had been so long since Lightning had eaten a nice, warm, _homemade _meal. Of course, it wasn't that Fang and Vanille's cooking wasn't its own type of 'special', their meals only lacked the certain flair that a well-prepared homemade dinner had.

"This is great," and Lightning agreed with Hope since all they had eaten since becoming l'Cie were ration bars, which quite frankly were disgusting or whatever Fang/Vanille managed to salvage from a monster or several.

"Do not speak when you eat, but you have my thanks."

Dinner was uneventful after that. The old man offered them to cook more of a meal but they both polite fully declined. After that, out of sheer boredom, Lightning accepted a game of chess between herself and Yeegar.

He thoroughly trounced her into the night without an ounce of mercy. Although he did offer helpful advice instructing with great detail the inefficiencies of her halfhearted tactics, Lightning only listened with deaf ears.

With a yawn, she looked out of the side of the carriage window. Night had long since fallen so there wasn't much in terms of sight except a transparent, darkened reflection in the window thanks to the lanterns that dimly lit the compartment in a wavering light. Lightning was fairly certain the time was somewhere around midnight, but she wasn't very tired.

Thankfully, operating with few hours of sleep came a bit as a habit but she couldn't do it for many consecutive days. The thought of sleep was looking like an attractive venue, however it didn't help that in order to sleep she would need to move Hope's sleeping head away from her shoulder.

As much as she would have loved to relieve the appendage of its stiffening, tingling, and soreness, Lightning just couldn't find to heart to do it.

"I truly am sorry for putting you under such conditions," Yeegar said regrettably. Lightning made noise of lazy agreement.

"I'm used to it."

He began to put the chess board away. Remarkably, not a single piece went flying even when they crossed bumps in the road, "You should sleep."

She made another noise of lazy agreement, "So should you." Yeegar released an amused chuckle and began to set up the board once again.

"If you do not mind me asking, where is your destination? It would be quite troublesome if we were heading in the opposite direction of your hometown," the old man said.

Lightning yawned again, "We're adventurers."

"You choose strange attire to go about in doing so."

"Helped us get along this far."

"You told me you were from this 'Bodhum' and that Hope was from 'Palumpolum'," Yeegar said, "I've lived for quite some time and taught students, but never have I heard about those places you mentioned."

Earning a prompting glance, he continued, "And what is this 'Cocoon'? Not the canal for more than a few species of insects; your manner of speaking told me it was of a place, not an object."

The chess board scraped softly against the polished wooden table as Yeegar sat up and rummaged through the cabinets before elegantly pulling out a scroll and laying it on the table, "This is a map of the world and its nations," he stated patiently.

Lightning's expression was roulette between disbelief, fear, and anger that was trying to be neatly sorted by logical reasoning.

No outdated, piece of parchment could successfully document Cocoon's structure in 2D Format and according to Vanille; there was no map of Pulse because of how tribes weren't really tight-knit enough as an organized community to do so.

But this…? This incredibly large, parchment map was precise to even the smallest of details. Mountains, towns, plains, cities, lakes, each individually shaded to represent the climate.

"Unbelievable," Explanations surged through her mind in attempts to grasp for an answer. If they were lucky, this was all some sort of practical joke, "Is this a joke?"

Yeegar was dumbfounded, "I'm sorry?" It had to have been a joke from Snow. He was getting back at her for leaving that pool of blood.

Yeah, that was it, it had to be.

….No, it wasn't. Shaking her mind off from any thoughts that would put herself in denial, Lightning reassured herself and tried to think logically.

Snow wasn't the type to actively take out revenge on somebody. If he were, Hope would have died a long time ago when the teenager tried to kill him.

Pranks? Those would be more of his type of thing, but even then they most likely wouldn't be serious. Not as serious as this. This was extremely elaborate and Lightning doubted it was some sort of hallucinogen.

….They must have turned to Crystal. That was the only other reasonable explanation Lightning could imagine. It would explain the white brands however it didn't explain the reason why everything looked so _primitive. _

Oil lamps, beast-drawn carriages and now paper maps? Not even the eccentrics living in Eden went that far out of the cultural code to achieve difference.

Lightning pinched her brow, not even bothering to show her tired frustration.

"Is something wrong, Lightning?"

Should she confide to this old man – this stranger? Yeegar wore an air of wisdom that had been accrued over the years and he himself told her that he used to be a teacher.

There was no use lying, especially to someone who used to teach individuals for a living.

A teacher. '_Serah wanted to be a teacher…'_

"Have I upset you?"

"…No," not upset, just confused the hell out of her. All of the explanations available to her contradicted themselves in some way or another.

"Very well," Yeegar smoothed out the edges of the map, "Could you perhaps point to where this Bodhum or Palumpolum is?"

Lightning arched over to observe the map's geography, trying to pick out details that could have even resembled Cocoon. But found none, "I can't find it."

"You were not perhaps, lying to me, were you Miss Lightning?"

Lightning sighed and shook her head while rubbing a hand across her forehead, "Not at all," There was no response from Yeegar for a while as he observed her acutely.

After a few moments of dissecting the map, Lightning steeled herself, "What if…" she couldn't believe she was about to suggest this, "What if I'm not from this place…?" seeing Yeegar's expression, she elaborated, "This world."

"What ever do you mean?"

Lightning's words were sharpened, "You've never heard of Pulse?"

A shake of his head.

"_Gran Pulse_?"

And another.

"Eden? Nautilus…?" Lightning then began listing off every town she knew, every landmark she memorized. But the answer was always the same.

She grit her teeth and mumbled silently, "Dammit."

"Am I under the impression you are not of my world?"

Lightning's head snapped up at his question.

"Do not be afraid or offended," he consoled, "I shall not judge you. I do not know whether this is a truth or a lie you could very well be a blessing from God himself."

"It would explain you all very well."

"Maybe," but she doubted it, "What do you mean, 'God'?"

"He who is the Almighty Lord; He who chooses disciples to carry out his sacred will," the old man said.

"Where is 'He'?" the question was almost threatening, but a patronizing smile was all Yeegar's reply.

"God resides in Heaven; he speaks only to you when he wills it," he stated factually. Lightning pondered for a moment.

The moment dots were connected they were erased. Judging by how Yeegar said 'God', she assumed it was a sole deity and not a hive network –unlike the fal'Cie. And if it truly was a fal'Cie that had chosen her, she would have her Focus and the brand would still be ticking its tock.

"….We shall adjourn this discussion for tomorrow."

"…You're going to believe me? Just like that?"

"I've met many liars, Miss Lightning. You are not one of them," rolling up the scroll in a single swipe, Yeegar swept that and the chess board off the table and silently stashed them away.

When Lightning blinked, her eyes didn't open.

* * *

**Not much, sorry, this was supposed to be a much larger chapter but I decided against it due to pacing. **


	4. Building Block

**Sorry, I've been having a Writing Crisis (Completely different from Writer's Block) lately. Remember to review, faithful readers! I need the critique if I am to get better.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

It was a cloud of dust that rudely caused Lightning to awaken that morning along with a bout of extremely unpleasant coughs and sneezes. For what it was though, it sure did beat waking up because of an animal attack.

Squinting, Lightning raised a hand to block away the beams of light that invaded her eyes and made her way outside.

The morning air was fresh albeit a bit cool. A slight breeze tickled the underside of her exposed arms, sending a chill up her spine, causing a wrinkle of the nose and crossing of the arms. The gentle rushing of water could be heard in the distance as well as the lively chirps of birds coupled with the clicking of insects.

It seemed they had stopped at a nearby creek.

"Have a pleasant rest?" Lightning turned to the side to find Yeegar with her coat draped over his arms, "A coincidence; your clothes had just finished drying."

Mouthing silent thanks, she shrugged back on her Guardian Corps. Jacket, partially glad some of the chills had stopped, "Where are we heading?"

"We are near the town of Epe," Yeegar said, "There we shall restock much needed supplies among other things. One of them concerns you."

Lightning released a grunt of disapproval; "Me about being 'Gods'chosen?" the last part was said mockingly. Like hell something else would leash her again.

But of course, the honest remark was met with a frown, "Perhaps."

Unwilling for an argument in the morning, Lightning brushed passed the old man, dipping her hands into the creek and splashing her face. Now fully awake, she enjoyed a few cool sips before turning to the old man who was speaking with one of the Trench Coats, "Where's Hope?"

"Right here," the boy answered in the opposite direction, holding what seemed to be a fat, black bat….Thing. "What is this thing?" Hope began to carefully toy with the thing in his hands, each lift of its wings squeaking mechanically.

Yeegar ceased his conversation with the Trench Coats and looked regrettably, "That would be my Golem."

"What's a Golem?"

"A communication device," he answered, his frown deepening after taking the 'Golem' from Hope's hands, "One that cannot be repaired in its current state. What has happened?"

"I was practicing with my boomerang….Sorry."

Lightning leaned against a tree with her arms crossed and exhaled amusedly. Nothing like a little bit of training practice along with collateral damage. Though, for a communication device, the bat-thing looked extremely burdensome.

"You are not at fault; I should have informed you of what the Golem was," the old man said as he handed the broken Golem to one of the Trench Coats beside him.

Lightning turned her eyes towards Hope with crossed arms, "Hope…?" The teenager looked back in acknowledgement, "I have…-"

"I'm afraid I have already informed him, Lightning," Yeegar interjected.

"Is it true, Light?" Hope walked towards her with a slightly pleading expression, "Isn't it?"

"We have nothing else to go on…" there was a slight pause of uncertainty, "So I guess it is."

"You don't sound sure."

Lightning gave off a small shrug, "Might as well just go along. Remember, we have to keep going forward; no looking back."

Hope seemed to be taking it rather well, "Yeah, but what do we do now?"

"We regroup," was the tactical reply, "We're going to find Snow and the others. It's the only choice we have now."

"How are we going to find them though?"

A moment of silence as Lightning attempted to think of an answer.

Yeegar comfortably slid himself into the silence, "…I believe I may be of assistance in that regard. I am affiliated with an organization known as the Black Order. Although they do not assist those who do not concern their goals by default, I am sure I could request of them to aid you in your plight."

"Black Order, huh?" Raising an eye at the strange name for an organization, Lightning narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "And how would this 'Black Order' be able to help us?"

"If it as you told, then your friends would possess as strange as wears such as yourself, correct?" there was logical reasoning to the answer. Lightning affirmed the guess with a nod while Hope grinned.

"So, Fang and Vanille will be the first one's we find?"

A smirk crawled to Lightning's lips, "Heh. Probably," Fang and Vanille weren't exactly the most normal individuals, after all.

"Where do you think they are?"

"I have no idea. That's why we're accepting help from strangers, isn't it?" she jeered playfully. Lightning was still extremely doubtful at receiving this undeserved assistance. As she said, what choice did they have?

_Somewhere in Australia…_

Vanille put a finger on her chin cutely, twirling on one foot while glancing about, "Um, Fang, I don't think we're on Gran Pulse anymore…" she said softly.

Fang didn't utter a reply, instead preferring to wade through the thick and tall bushes of dry grass, the rustles being the only indicator of the Pulsian woman's location.

"…Fang?" Vanille squeaked a little worriedly.

"Oh, look at this pretty thing!" Fang's exclaim of surprise was followed by a loud, ferocious roar and an audible snap of its jaws.

…Sazh would probably turn up on the radar. She had no idea whether or not Snow would stick out like a sore thumb or not either.

Still, Lightning doubted the credibility of the unconditional support, "How exactly will this 'Black Order' be able to find our friends again?"

"Through the use of Finders whom are stationed throughout the world," Yeegar then directed his hand politely in the Trench Coats beside him, "The uniformed men beside me are Finders."

"Why are you helping us?"

Yeegar seemed to have been shocked by the sudden question but brushed it off, "By my charity, your lives and the lives of others shall be made happier in this world."

'_Being nice to be nice, huh?'_ Whatever it was, it was an admirable goal – if foolish.

"We are about to depart upon the road once more to the town of Epe. I'll answer your questions once we have breakfast."

On the road once again, Yeegar complied with what he said, refusing to speak until breakfast was finished. Once they were finished, and _god damn was breakfast good_, Yeegar began to answer questions.

"So, what's this Epe place?"

"A beautiful town filled with delightful people."

Lightning narrowed her eyes, "Mind if you tell us what this 'Black Order' is?" Surprisingly, Yeegar shook his head.

"I apologize, but I do not want to risk endangering you two."

"Classified, right?"

"To some extent, you would be right," Yeegar admitted with utmost calm, "but those whom affiliate themselves with the Black Order put their lives at risk to do so."

Lightning would have agreed, but, "You think we wouldn't be able to handle them?"

"The enemies of the Order are treacherous and unforgiving," was the curt reply before leaving it at that.

Lightning made a frustrated noise but didn't voice complaints. She could clearly see the reasons why, but both she and Hope were not civilians, "Who are your enemies?"

Yeegar's next words overflowed with venom, "Diabolical machines known as Akuma who prey on the souls of humans," To everyone, the way he said it was downright disturbing, "They are not to be trifled with. I do not care whether you think yourself to be competent when versed against petty thieves or bandits."

Despite Yeegar's obvious attempts at dissuasion, Lightning was resolute, "We can handle ourselves."

"I shall not speak of this anymore," Yeegar barked, "Simply being within my willing presence is a danger to you."

Lightning growled but before she could even defend herself begin she was interrupted with a hard glare, "I've agreed to enlist to you the assistance of the Black Order in the search for your comrades but no more. "

"Have it your way then."

With nobody speaking another word after that in favor to dwell on their own thoughts, the time passed fast and they soon were at Epe's boundary.

Few clouds dotted the skies; the noon atmosphere was pleasant and relaxing. The small town was quaint, quiet and rife with children giggling happily in the streets. There weren't any dark alleys for teenager gangs to hide in; the houses were too small for that. The only thing on the side of each house was perhaps a crate or barrel or makeshift shed. On their windows, clumsy wooden shutters.

The town was the epitome of peace. Eventually, they had to get out of the carriage because the trampled road had stopped partway through. As they did so, the neighbors gave questioning stares but resumed their own duties.

Out of habit, Hope made sure to keep the leather glove stretched above his Brand but Lightning doubted it would have made a difference. If this truly was a different world, then how would they know? Unless there were fal'Cie here…?

"We are here."

Straight ahead there was a beautiful church surrounded on all sides by a gorgeous flowerbed that danced elegantly with each breath of the wind. The structure was cut from smooth, white stone with an intricate, exquisite stained glass window facing them. Decorating the roof was a gilded, jeweled cross that was worshipped by a variety of absolutely adorable cherubs.

Except that Lightning and Hope found them all creepy because of how much resemblance they posed to Barthandelus.

When all was said and done, Lightning and Hope were left alone when Yeegar went on to somewhere private with the Reverend of the church and Thierry and the other Finder went to report to the Black Order. Or so they said mumbled.

In silent agreement, Lightning and Hope went to wander the town and observe everything.

There was no technology utilized whatsoever. Everybody did everything on their own while engaging in playful, friendly banter with one another.

As expected, they paid Lightning no heed. They did not raise their metaphorical nor sometimes literal pitchforks and makeshift torches like all fear stricken residents of Palumpolum. There were no Cavalry or PSICOM frigates whirring deafeningly loud in the sky reminding her through an intercom of what a l'Cie was made to be.

Someone attempted to ask of her assistance and so she did. It wasn't much but the person who asked smiled greatly and offered thanks before going their own way. No prejudice. No judgment. Just thanks.

Continuing her stroll, Lightning could now observe what was in the distance. On the farms, others worked laboriously in obtaining milk, creating cheese or cream or reaping stocks of prime wheat.

Lightning found it admirable. Here, people in this world cultivated their own lives - all done without the aid of the fal'Cie, technology or automated robots.

Was this what it was like on Gran Pulse? Living life without luxury….Then again, what was luxury when one was content on what they cherished in front of them; carving out their own fates by their own whims, wrists untouched from fal'Cie grip.

Lightning twirled Blazefire out of his holster, trailing delicate fingers along the inscribed words she had engraved onto it:

"_White Flash – call upon my name"_

That was right. As part of her 'transformation' for Serah, Lightning vowed to forget everything about her past to become stronger.

_Control your emotions. If you want to survive, you forget about sympathy. How can I explain? Think of it like a strategy. Focus on your ultimate goal and shut out everything else. Still your mind. Move on instinct. Let doubt take over, and despair will cripple you._

The very philosophy Lightning had thrived off so far. It had been working. It was need now more than ever, in this world or wherever this was.

….And that was when Lightning noticed, after playing with a loosened mechanism of the gunblade, that it needed a tune-up. Desperately.

Out of habit, Lightning shot glanced around her surroundings; there definitely wasn't a randomly placed terminal with a virtual shortcut to "Lenora's Garage", the online shop that had repaired her gunblade, free of charge. She was at the edge of a forestland, however.

Sighing, Lightning retracted it, wincing slightly upon hearing what she thought was a creak as it did so. So not only did it need a tune up, it needed to be oiled. Both of which were simple, if delicate tasks to perform.

Conveniently, the first house she encountered belonged to a blacksmith who had plenty of spare oil and screwdrivers. Nothing else crossed her mind as she winded, unwound, screwed, and unscrewed various parts of her gunblade, taking note of which part was which in order to avoid the frustration of reassembly.

Nothing was more frustrating than easily taking something apart but carelessly forgetting how to put it back together. Another lesson on patience and control she had discovered upon first receiving and learning how to furnish the state-of-the-art, Blazefire Saber.

After squeaking the parts clean of any rusting, bruises or blemishes, reassembling the gunblade took only a matter of minutes. After testing it out with a series of flicks and swerves, Lightning was pleased. It was smoother in its transitioning now, much more structurally sound.

After returning the tools and small bottle of oil, Lightning swept out of the way and sharply turned a corner. In the corner of the sky, the descending sun was tinting the sky a beautiful orange hue.

As one who honored curfew, Lightning decided to make her way back to the Church that sat alone on the tip of a hill. Tomorrow they would be heading to this 'Black Order' place. Whatever and wherever that may be.

Thoughts of carelessly relaxing the tensed, stressed and tired muscles in her shoulders caused a quickening of her step when the orange, sunlit doors appeared in the horizon of her sight.

But a chorus of frantic shouts halted her step along with a brilliant glare of light within Lightning's peripheral.

"Monster!"

"Beast!"

The remaining chatters were scattered among the winds that made it far too difficult to piece together the people's words at Lightning's distance. But then there was another thought.

_Hope…._

Thankfully, the town was fairly small, so pinpointing the origin was simple after some time sprinting around, Lightning having been able to easily maneuver around the confused townspeople, pushing in and out of small crowds towards wherever the light came from.

And then there was a cry of pain. Hope's cry of pain.

After what seemed to be forever, Lightning finally broke made it to where the source was.

"Hope…." On the ground, bloody and seemingly lifeless, Hope remained sprawled along the dirt road, "Hope!"

Rolling him over upside, Lightning put a finger to his jugular.

…

…

After Hope's chest rose and took in a strained breath, there was a pulse. However faint.

She glared venomously at the people surrounding, suffocating her with their looks of worry and curiosity, "Out of my way!"

They ignored Lightning in favor of gawking but she didn't care, instead hastily feeling around his body, fingers shimmering aqua as Lightning prepared to repair the extensive damage.

The familiar voice in the distance was drowned out thanks to intense concentration, "What has happened?!"

"There was a monster!"

"A boy got hurt!"

"What's going on, Mommy….?"

After checking again, there was a pulse, this one holding a steady rhythm. Effortlessly, Lightning scooped Hope into her arms and whirled around. It took less than second to see where the dusked church proudly stood.

Thankfully, everyone parted away the moment she stepped towards them. Except for one.

"What has happened to Hope?" Yeegar questioned worriedly, eyes hardened. Lightning roughly shifted arms to get a better grip on Hope.

"He got attacked," her words were completely intolerant as she moved forward. Yeegar directed a reassuring smile to the crowd behind them before sternly trailing behind Lightning.

"Akuma…"

The mumbling caused Lightning to stop dead in her tracks, eyes laden with worry and fury, "You know what did this?"

"I do. Come, we go to the church," Yeegar said sharply, taking long strides. On the man's heels, Lightning barged her way into the church and carefully placed Hope onto the nearest bed in a backroom. Once more, she felt for a pulse and exhaled a breath of relief.

Stepping back, Lightning crossed her arms with slumped shoulders and rested against the closest wall, refusing to look directly in Hope's direction, staring at the floor somewhat guiltily as a doctor and a nurse glided past.

After an hour of resetting and splinting bones, bandaging and dressing wounds, the two doctors began to shuffle out of the room, "The boy was lucky you were there to help him," one of them told Lightning.

The other nodded in agreement, putting a reassuring hand on Lightning's hand, "He'll be alright for the time being," the rest was drowned out as Lightning thought to herself.

She had been extremely careless. Of all times to encounter danger, it had to be inside the first town they've been to since Palumpolum. The simple life had enraptured her, distracted her away.

Even on a different world, no place truly was safe for l'Cie, was it?

Lightning shook herself out of the thoughts when Yeegar moved in the corner of her eye, peering caringly above Hope. There was a noticeable pity in his stare as well.

"You said you knew what did this," Lightning said, no nonsense.

"That I did. Forgive me for not…-"

"What was it? What's an Akuma?" She rudely interrupted. When Hope rolled uncomfortably in his sleep, Lightning recomposed herself, repeating the question at a smaller volume.

"As I said, Akuma are our enemies, not yours," Yeegar's then whispered to himself under his breath, "They are my fault to bear…"

Lightning released a signature scoff, "You mean enemies of the 'Black Order'?" Before Yeegar to voice a reply, she continued coldly, "I'm not buying it. If they were your only enemies, why would they attack Hope?"

"Consider yourselves among those lucky, ungrateful child," Yeegar snapped aloud. Lightning stood deathly still, a frown pressed into the corner of her mouth. "Many others whom have ever been in the vicinity of Akuma die at moment's notice."

"We're still alive."

"You would not be if the Akuma did not think of this as a game."

When Lightning opened her mouth to retort, the door entering the room opened, revealing a hooded Finder, "General Yeegar, we cannot find the Akuma."

Lightning was completely baffled, "….You're a part of a military organization?" She said incredulously, "And, let me guess, Akuma are a group of terrorists?"

As the Finder silently shrunk away from the picture, Yeegar shook his head, "You misunderstand…"

"They injured Hope and you say we're powerless against it. Like we're civilians," Lightning scowled at the latter thought.

"You are helpless! It was as I said, Akuma are not to be trifled with. It is our duty, as…"

"As what?" she questioned challengingly, "You're an old man. You should be retired."

"As Exorcists of the Black Order," Yeegar finished quietly. The idea made Lightning exhale a small, patronizing laugh as began to run a gloved across her forehead.

"Great, now I'm fighting fairytales…"

"This is not a joking matter!"

"For all I know, this 'Black Order', fights Akuma with people like you; 'Exorcists'…"

"You're being quite disrespectful."

"Then show_ us_ respect. We can handle ourselves."

"You truly are stubborn…."

Lightning couldn't tell whether or not it was a compliment or pitying judgment. But it seemed that thought successfully cut their argument short, leaving them both to their own thoughts as Hope rolled around.

An hour later, the sun had fully set, pulling the daylight's veil away from the vast ocean of stars outside of the window. The room was lit with dim oil lamps, candles hanging on the face of each surrounding wall or on top one of many desks.

"What do you intend to do, after you find your friends?"

"Find a way to return home," Lightning replied softly. Yeegar accepted the answer without retort before moving onto his next thought.

"It will most likely be a month, perhaps even longer, for Hope to recover fully from his injuries. Travelling in his state is extremely unhealthly.

"Then…"

"Go ahead without me…" Hope weakly chimed in. Yeegar and Lightning sharply turned towards Hope who was weakly trying to sit up.

The teenager put a hand up when Lightning tried to help, "I'll be fine."

Lightning took a step back to offer some breathing room for him.

"You've taught me so much," Hope said, sweeping his legs over the side of the bed as he attempted to stand. Before Yeegar could protest, the teenager continued, looking towards Lightning in admiration, smiling, "You've taught me how to fight."

Rising from the cot, Hope scrapped across the wooden floor with a hunch in his shoulders. It was only a few steps until he tripped, Lightning bolting forward to catch him before he fully fell to the floor.

"It is the Black Order's responsibility regarding dealings with Akuma…"

As Hope leaned against Lightning, a silent, single tear rolled down his check, his voice cracking upon saying the next words, "I'm scared."

Lightning rubbed her thumb in a circle around Hope's shoulder, "We understand. You're not gonna go through this ordeal alone, you know…." She then turned him around, raising the boy's downcast head by the chin, meeting the boy's sorrowful eyes with her tendering own.

The sight of Lightning's visible smile seemed to have shaken him even further as Hope shook her head, voice still cracking, "B-but…That's what scares me…I-I don't…-I don't want to see you get hurt because of me."

More tears fell freely, Hope putting a hand to his face to cover them up, "It would be better for you if I just stayed behind…" He sobbed.

Suddenly, a brilliant flashing from Hope's wrist illuminated the entire room, a magnificent aureate sigil expanding from throughout the entire room containing an exquisite variety of blocks appearing beneath the boy's feet that somehow forced Lightning and Yeegar to the opposite ends of the quaint room.

The exuberant light emitted was blinding them both, causing them to raise their hand in efforts to block it out.

There was the sound of shattering glass along with Hope crying out; four beams of pale emerald shooting towards the heavens as they easily pierced the ceiling.

When the luminescence finally faded, the ceiling viciously collapsed inwards to welcome the hulking figure that now stood condescendingly above Hope.

When the dust from debris finally cleared, Lightning knew full well what this being was, with wide eyes.

The light of the moon and stars shining down from the new skylight did well in confirming her suspicions as Hope shuffled backwards in fear under the massive figure's predatory glare.

"Akuma…?" Yeegar coughed weakly, still clearing the debris from his throat.

No, it was….

"An Eidolon," both Hope and Lightning whispered in synchrony.


End file.
